Communicating primary content streams and secondary content streams including targeted advertising to a remote unit

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a method and system to communicate primary and secondary content streams to at least one remote unit, for example, via a television channel in a targeted television environment. The secondary content stream comprises a plurality of tertiary content streams (e.g., video streams) providing commercials, advertisements or any other content. The tertiary content streams are included in the secondary content stream as a mosaic so that each tertiary content stream is a subset or portion of an active display area or frame provided by the single secondary content stream. In one exemplary embodiment, the method and system provide targeted or specific commercial advertisements to demographically selected audiences.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/987,042, filed Nov. 12, 2004, which is incorporated hereinby reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to the field of electroniccommunications and, in one exemplary embodiment, to a method and systemto communicate primary and secondary content streams to at least oneremote unit. For example, the invention may be applied in a televisionenvironment to provide targeted television.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Television program distribution systems are available that providedifferent advertisements or commercial messages to differentdemographically targeted television audiences, e.g., cable or satellitetelevision audiences. In such systems audience specific commercials oradvertisements are spliced into a television feed. Thus, although theprogram content is distributed over a wide geographical area, differentcommercials or advertising are broadcast to different geographical areasproviding targeted advertising.

Prior art systems require transmission of a common television messageand a plurality of different multi-channel television messages over aplurality of contemporaneous channels. Predefined viewercharacteristics, such as demographic characteristics, are used as thebasis for selecting one of the commercial message sub-channels each timea commercial break occurs in the main television program carried on theparticular television channel. In these prior art systems targetedcommercials or advertisements are provided as discrete video streams indifferent channels or sub-channels and additional bandwidth is requiredfor additional advertisements.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a method and system to communicate primary andsecondary content streams to at least one remote unit, for example, viaa television channel or sub-channel in a targeted televisionenvironment. The secondary content stream includes a plurality oftertiary content streams (e.g., video streams) providing commercials,advertisements or any other content. The tertiary content streams areincluded in the secondary content stream as a mosaic so that eachtertiary content stream is a subset or portion of an active display areaor frame provided by the single secondary content stream. In oneexemplary embodiment, the method and system provide targeted or specificcommercial advertisements to demographically selected audiences.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and notlimitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings. In the drawingslike references indicate the same or similar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of an exemplary interactivetelevision environment within which the present invention may bedeployed;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram providing architectural details regarding abroadcast server, a modulator box, a set-top box and an optional storagedevice according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of various exemplary components of a systemshowing an exemplary module to generate a secondary content video streamfrom a plurality of tertiary video streams, and a secondary streamprocessing module to extract a selected tertiary stream at a remoteunit, both modules also in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of exemplary middleware of the set-top box toextract a selected tertiary video stream based on user profile criteria;

FIG. 5 shows an exemplary secondary active picture or display areaprovided by the secondary video stream wherein the active display areaincludes a mosaic of a plurality exemplary tertiary video streams;

FIG. 6 shows an exemplary tertiary picture that has been cropped fromthe secondary picture and scaled up for display to a viewer on a displaydevice such as a television screen;

FIG. 7 shows an exemplary digital television feed including a pluralityof television channels;

FIG. 8 shows a single channel of the digital television feed orbroadcast transmission including a primary video stream and a secondaryvideo stream including mosaiced advertisements or commercials;

FIG. 9 shows an exemplary flow chart of a method, in accordance with anexemplary embodiment of the invention, for extracting a tertiary contentstream from a secondary content stream;

FIG. 10 shows an exemplary flow chart of a method, in accordance with anexemplary embodiment of the invention, for generating a secondarycontent stream including a plurality of tertiary content streams; and

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a machine, in the exemplary formof a computer system, which may store and execute a set of instructionsthat cause the machine to perform any of the methods described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A method and a system to communicate primary and secondary contentstreams to at least one remote unit, for example, via a televisionchannel or sub-channel in a targeted television environment is provided.In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the present invention. It will be evident, however, toone skilled in the art that the present invention may be practicedwithout these specific details.

An exemplary application of the invention in a satellite interactivetelevision environment is described below. It will also however beappreciated that the invention may apply in both digital and analogenvironments. In one exemplary embodiment, a content provider such asNBC, ESPN, Discovery Channel etc. may provide a primary content stream(e.g., a primary video stream with or without advertisements) to awidespread geographic region but an affiliate may wish to tailorcommercials or advertisements broadcast in a specific localizedgeographic area. In these circumstances, an affiliate receiving thetransmission may include (e.g., splice) specific targeted advertisements(e.g., prime time advertisements) into the broadcast at selectedintervals. Multiple targeted advertisements (tertiary video streams) maythen be included in a single secondary video stream that is broadcast toa remote unit (e.g., a set-top box). At the remote unit a particulartertiary video stream or advertisement may then be automaticallyselected and extracted for display at the remote unit. The selection oridentification of the particular tertiary stream or advertisement may bebased user profile information/data and the selection may then takeplace in an automated fashion without any intervention or input by asubscriber. Thus, in one embodiment, targeted or specific commercialadvertisements are communicated to demographically selected audiences, aparticular household, or the like that are be provided in an automatedfashion. An exemplary deployment of the invention is described belowwith reference to an interactive television environment. However, itwill be appreciated by one skilled in the art that not all thefunctionality provided in the exemplary interactive televisionenvironment below are required to implement the invention. The primaryvideo stream and secondary video stream may be data streams provided bya single data channel.

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of an exemplary interactivetelevision environment 10, wherein the present invention may bedeployed. The interactive television environment 10 includes a sourcesystem 12 that communicates data (e.g., television content data andinteractive application data) via a distribution network or system 14and a modulator box 70 to a receiver system 16. In other exemplaryembodiments, the modulator box 72 may be replaced with (or include) aPCI board, a USB dongle or the like. In one exemplary embodiment, theinteractive television environment 10 optionally includes a storage unit72 (e.g., personal computer) that communicates stored data via a network74 to the modulator box 70 which, in turn, communicates the stored data,television content data, and interactive application data to thereceiver system 16. The modulator box 70, storage unit 72, and thereceiver system 16 are typically co-located in a subscriber's home.Thus, in one embodiment, the modulator box 70 may combine televisioncontent data and interactive application data received from the remotesource system 12 with local stored data provided by the storage unit 72provided at the subscriber's home. It will be appreciated that thestorage unit 72 may be any computer device running appropriate software(e.g., Linux or Microsoft Windows).

Turning first to the source system 12, an exemplary headend system 18operates to communicate the data as a broadcast transmission. To thisend, the headend system 18 is shown to include one or more broadcastservers 20 and, optionally, one or more application servers 22. Each ofthe broadcast servers 20 may operate to receive, encode, packetize,multiplex, modulate, and broadcast data from various sources and ofvarious types. While the exemplary embodiment is described herein astransmitting data from the headend system 18 as a broadcast, it will beappreciated that the relevant data could also be unicast or multicastfrom the source system 12 via the distribution system 14 and modulatorbox 70 to the receiver system 16. In various embodiments, data couldalso be transmitted from the source system 12 via a network connectionto the receiver system 16. Further details regarding an exemplarybroadcast server 20 are provided below with reference to FIG. 2.

Each application server 22, in one exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention, serves to compile and provide interactive data modules to thebroadcast server 20. The interactive data modules may also include datathat is utilized by an interactive television application. Anapplication server 22 may also include multiplexing functionality toenable multiplexing of, for example, interactive television applicationsand associated data with audio and video signals received from varioussources. An application server 22 may also have the capability to feed(e.g., stream) multiple interactive television applications to one ormore broadcast servers 20 for distribution to the receiver system 16. Tothis end, each application server 22 may implement a so-called“carousel”, whereby code and data modules are provided to a broadcastserver 20 in a cyclic, repetitive manner for inclusion within atransmission from the headend system 18. In other embodiments, code mayreside permanently in the set-top box 38 (e.g., the code may be storedin non-volatile memory of the set-top box 38), may be pushed ordownloaded to the set-top box 38, or be provided to the set-top box 38in any other manner.

The headend system 18 is also shown by way of example to include one ormore backend servers 24, which are coupled to the application servers 22and to a communications I/O interface in the exemplary form of a modempool 26. In the exemplary modem pool configuration, the modem pool 26 iscoupled to receive data from the receiver systems 16 via a network 28(e.g., the Internet) and to provide this data to backend servers 24. Thebackend servers 24 may then provide the data, received from the receiversystem 16, to the application servers 22 and the broadcast servers 20.Accordingly, the network 28 and the modem pool 26 may operate as areturn channel whereby a receiver system 16 is provided withinteractivity with the source system 12. Data provided to the headendsystem 18 via the return channel may include, merely for example, userinput to an interactive television application executed at the receiversystem 16 or data that is generated by the receiver system 16 andcommunicated to the source system 12. It will however be appreciatedthat any data may be communicated via the return channel (e.g.,statistical data, data metering user viewing selections, etc.). Thereturn channel 30 may also provide a channel whereby programs, targetedadvertisements/commercials, and applications from the source system 12are provided to the receiver system 16. As described in more detailsbelow, each advertisement may be provided in a tertiary content streamsuch as a tertiary video stream wherein a plurality of tertiary videostreams are combined in a mosaic to provide a single secondary contentstream such as a tertiary video stream. The secondary content stream maybe inserted or spliced into the primary content or video stream at, forexample, the headend system 18 using an insertion module (which may beimplemented by a switch). It will however be appreciated that themosaiced secondary video stream may be inserted into the primary datachannels at any point in the exemplary interactive televisionenvironment 10.

Within the source system 12, the headend system 18 is also shownoptionally to receive data (e.g., content, code and application data)from external sources. For example, FIG. 1 illustrates the headendsystem 18 as being coupled to one or more content sources 32 and one ormore application sources 34 via a network 36 (e.g., the Internet). Forexample, a content source 32 could be a provider of entertainmentcontent (e.g., movies), a provider of real-time dynamic data (e.g.,weather information), a plurality of targeted advertisements, prime timeviewing advertisements, or the like. An application source 34 may be aprovider of any interactive television application. For example, one ormore application sources 34 may provide a TV Media Player Application,Electronic Program Guide (EPG) and navigation applications, messagingand communication applications, information applications, sportsapplications, and/or games and gaming applications.

Turning now to the exemplary distribution system 14, the distributionsystem 14 may, in one embodiment, support the broadcast distribution ofdata from the source system 12 to the receiver system 16. As shown, thedistribution network or system 14 may comprise a satellite, cable,terrestrial or Digital Subscribers Line (DSL) network, or any other datacommunication network or combination of such networks.

The receiver system 16 is shown, in one exemplary embodiment, to includea receiver device in the exemplary form of a set-top box (STB) 38 thatreceives data (primary and secondary content streams) via thedistribution system 14 and modulator box 70, a communications I/Ointerface in the exemplary form of a modem 40 for return channelcommunications with the headend system 18. It will be appreciated thatthe communication I/O interfaces 26, 40 may be selected dependent uponthe nature of the network 28. For example, the communications I/Ointerfaces 28, 40 may include a cable return module, a DSL returnmodule, or the like. The receiver system 16 is also shown to includeother optional external systems such as a user input device 43 (e.g., akeyboard, remote control, mouse etc.) and a display device 42, coupledto the set-top box 38, for the display of content received at theset-top box 38. In one exemplary embodiment, the display device 42 maybe a television set.

The set-top box 38 may execute three layers of software, namely anoperating system 44, middleware 46 and, optionally, one or moreinteractive television applications 48. The middleware 46 may operate toshield the interactive television application 48 from differences ofvarious operating systems 44 and differences in hardware of differentset-top boxes 38. To this end, the middleware 46 may provide driverApplication Program Interfaces (APIs) and a library to translateinstructions received from an interactive television or stored dataapplication 48 into low-level commands that may be understood by set-topbox hardware (e.g., modems, interface ports, smart card readers, etc.).In one exemplary embodiment, the middleware 46 includes extractionfunctionality to extract a selected tertiary video stream. For example,the middleware 46 may include crop and scale functionality to crop aportion or subset of an active display area provided by the secondaryvideo stream, and scale the cropped portion or subset for display on thedisplay device 42 so as to encompass an entire display area of thedisplay device 42.

The modulator box 70, in one exemplary embodiment, receives stored data98 (see FIG. 2) from the storage unit 72 and a broadcast transmissionfrom the source system 12. The modulator box 70 multiplexes the storeddata 98 into the broadcast transmission thereby generating a secondtransmission that is communicated to the receiving system 16. It willhowever be appreciated that storage unit functionality is optional. Thestorage unit 72 may store data and, upon request, communicate the storeddata to the modulator box 70 over the network 74 (e.g., ethernet). Thestorage unit 72 may communicate the stored data in response to commandsthat are entered by a user from the set-top box 38 and communicated tothe storage unit 72 over the link 76. The link 76 may be any wired orwireless link over which digital data may be communicated (e.g., an802.11x link, a USB link, an IEEE 1394 link etc.).

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating further exemplary detailsregarding the architecture of a headend system 18, a modulator box 70, astorage device or unit 94 and a set-top box 38, wherein an embodiment ofthe present invention may be deployed. Specifically, FIG. 2 shows abroadcast server 20, which may support a carousel of modules, asincluding a number of parallel paths that provide input to a multiplexer50, each of the parallel paths including an encoder 52 and a packetizer54. Each encoder 52 may operate to receive input from one or moresources. For example, the encoder 52 a is shown to receive streamedapplication modules from the application server 22, which is, in turn,coupled to receive application data from one or more application sources34. The application source 34 may be internal or external to a headendsystem 18. Similarly, an encoder 52 b is shown coupled to receivecontent data from one or more content sources 32, which may again beinternal or external to the headend system 18. As shown in FIG. 3, thecontent sources 32 may include a primary video stream (e.g., regulartelevision programming) and a secondary video stream including multipleadvertisements provided in a single picture as shown in FIG. 5.

It will be appreciated that each broadcast server 20 may include anynumber of parallel paths coupled to any number of sources (e.g.,application and/or content sources 34 and 32) that provide input to themultiplexer 50. Furthermore, a headend system 18 may deploy any numberof broadcast servers 20.

Each of the encoders 52 operates to encode data utilizing any one ormore of a number of compression algorithms, such as for example theMotion Picture Expert Group (MPEG) compression algorithms. Each of theencoders 52 may also operate to time stamp data for synchronizationpurposes. It will be appreciated that certain data types may not besusceptible to encoding and may thus pass through, or bypass, theencoder 52, and be provided to a packetizer 54 in an unencoded state. Inone exemplary embodiment, the packetizers 54 may be coupled to receiveboth encoded and unencoded data and to format this data into packetsbefore eventual transmission via the distribution system 14 (e.g., abroadcast channel).

Each of the packetizers 54 provides packets to the multiplexer 50, whichmultiplexes the packets into a transmission that is modulated by amodulator 51. The modulator 51 may utilize a modulation technique priorto distribution of broadcast transmission via the distribution system14. For example, the modulator 51 may utilize a quadrature phase shiftkeying (QPSK) modulation technique, which is a digital frequencymodulation technique that is used for communicating data over coaxialcable networking facilities or a quadrature amplitude (QAM) modulationtechnique, which is a digital amplitude modulation technique that isused for communicating data over wireless networking facilities.

The modulator box 70, in one exemplary embodiment, includes ademodulator 78, a multiplexer 80, a modulator 82, a packetizer 84, and acomputer system 87. The demodulator 78 receives and demodulates thebroadcast transmission that, in turn, is communicated to the multiplexer80 that, in turn, is communicated to the modulator 82 that modulates,utilizing a modulation technique as described above, and communicates atransmission to the set-top box 38. The computer system 87 may executemodulator applications 86 that include a communication module 88. Thecommunication module 88 may receive data modules from the storage unit72, the data modules including stored data 98 in the form of applicationdata and content data. The application data includes executableapplications that may be executed by a computer system 64 on the set-topbox 38. The content data includes alphanumeric, image, video and audiodata that may be displayed on the display device 42 connected to theset-top box 38. The packetizer 84 packetizes the data modules intopackets and communicates the packets to the multiplexer 80 thatmultiplexes the stream of packets that contain stored data 98 togetherwith the multiple streams of packets in the broadcast transmission toform a plurality of streams in the exemplary form of a transmission.

The storage unit 72 (e.g., personal computer, home media center, or anyother computing device) includes a computer system 90, a storage device94, and an encoder 92. The computer system 90 may execute applications91 (e.g., operating system, word processing, etc.) that may include aStorage Device Media Player Application that receives and processescommands that are entered by a user operating the set-top box 38. TheStorage Device Media Player application may receive a command from auser that requests stored data 98 in the exemplary form of a file thatresides on a database 96 on the storage device 94. Responsive to receiptof the command, the Storage Device Media Player Application may directthe storage unit 72 to communicate the requested file in the form ofdata module(s) to the modulator box 70 that, in turn, communicates thedata module(s) to the set-top box 38. The encoder 92 operates to encodedata utilizing any one or more of a number of compression algorithms,such as for example the Motion Picture Expert Group (MPEG) compressionalgorithms. The encoder 92 may also operate to time stamp data forsynchronization purposes. It will be appreciated that certain data typesmay not be susceptible to encoding and may thus pass through, orby-pass, the encoder 92, and be provided to a modulator box 70 in anunencoded state.

The set-top box 38 of the exemplary receiver system 16 may be coupled toa multiplexer box 70 that is coupled to a network input (e.g., a modem),cable input, satellite dish or antenna so as to receive the broadcasttransmission, transmitted from the headend system 18 via thedistribution system 14. The broadcast transmission may be fed to themodulator box 70 which produces a transmission that is then fed to aninput 56 (e.g., a receiver, port, etc.) on the set-top box 38. Where theinput 56 comprises a receiver, the input 56 may, for example, include atuner (not shown) that operates to select a channel on which thetransmission is communicated. The packetized transmission is then fedfrom the input 56 to a demultiplexer 58 that demultiplexes theapplication and content data that constitute the transmission signal.For example, the demultiplexer 58 may provide the content data to anaudio and video decoder 60, and the application data to a computersystem 64. The audio and video decoder 60 decodes the content data into,for example, a television signal. For example, the audio and videodecoder 60 may decode the received content data into a suitabletelevision signal such as a NTSC, PAL or HDTV signal. The televisionsignal is then provided from the audio and video decoder 60 to thedisplay device 42.

The computer system 64, which may include a processor and memory,reconstructs one or more interactive television applications (e.g.,originating from the source system 12) and one or more stored dataapplications (e.g., originating from the storage unit 72) from theapplication data that is provided to it by the demultiplexer 58. Asdescribed in more detail below, in one embodiment the computer system 64includes crop and scale functionality to crop a portion and scale aportion of a received advertisement stream and display the cropped andscaled portion on the display device 42. The application data mayinclude both application code and/or application information that isused by an application 48. The computer system 64, in addition toreconstructing an application 48, executes such an application 48 tocause the set-top box 38 to perform one or more operations. For example,the computer system 64 may output a signal to the display device 42. Forexample, this signal from the computer system 64 may constitute an imageor graphical user interface (GUI) to be overlaid on an image produced asa result of the signal provided to the display device 42 from the audioand video decoder 60. The user input device 43 (e.g., a keyboard, remotecontrol, mouse, microphone, camera etc.) is also shown to be coupled tothe input 56, so as to enable a user to provide input to the set-top box38. Such input may, for example, be alphanumeric, audio, video, orcontrol (e.g., manipulation of objects presented in a user interface)input.

The computer system 64 is also shown to be coupled to the audio andvideo decoder 60 so as to enable the computer system 64 to control thisdecoder 60. The computer system 64 may also receive an audio and/orvideo signal from the decoder 60 and combine this signal with generatedsignals so as to enable the computer system 64 to provide a combinedsignal to the display device 42.

The computer system 64 is also shown by way of example to be coupled toan output 66 (e.g., a transmitter, output port, etc.) through which theset-top box 38 is able to provide output data, via the return channel30, to an external system, such as for example, the headend system 18.To this end, the output 66 is shown to be coupled to the modem 40 of thereceiver system 16.

While the receiver system 16 is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 to comprise aset-top box 38 coupled to a display device 42, it will readily beappreciated that the components of the receiver system 16 could becombined into a single device (e.g., a computer system), or could bedistributed among a number of independent systems. For example, aseparate receiver system 16 may provide input to a set-top box 38, whichis then coupled to a display device 42.

Referring in particular to FIG. 3 of the drawings, an exemplaryembodiment of a system 100 to communicate content, e.g. televisionprograms and advertisements, to a remote unit is shown. The system 100may for example, be deployed in the interactive television environment10 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. As described in more detail below, the system100 combines a plurality of tertiary video or content streams such asadvertisements or commercials into a mosaic in a secondary content orvideo stream which is transmitted or communicated to a remote receiversystem including a set-top box 38. The primary and secondary videostreams may be provided in a single or common broadcast channel. In oneexemplary embodiment, the set-top box 38 is operable to automatically,without human intervention, identify and extract (e.g. crop and scale) atargeted advertisement for display on a display device e.g. the displaydevice 42. The system 100 may, in a single television channelallocation, provide a main television program chosen for viewingtogether with a variety of alternate commercial messages to beautomatically retrieved during a commercial break depending on aviewer's characteristics, such as the viewer's geographical location,personal preferences, interests, personal circumstances (e.g., parent,age group, etc.).

The system 100 includes transmission equipment e.g. a headend system 18,which receives a primary video stream 102 from a content source (e.g.,the content source 32) and a secondary video stream 104, which comprisesa plurality of mosaiced or combined tertiary video streams 106. Inparticular, the headend system 18 includes a combining module, e.g., avideo mosaic generator or compositor 108, which receives the tertiaryvideo streams and combines them into a single secondary video stream,which provides a single motion picture for communication to the set-topbox 38. In one exemplary embodiment, the motion picture provided by thesecondary video screen comprises a number of portions or subsets 110(see FIG. 5) each of which correspond to a tertiary video stream thatprovides an advertisement for communication to the set-top box 38. Inthe exemplary motion picture or screen display shown in FIG. 5, thevideo mosaic generator 108 divides an active display or picture area ofthe video provided by the secondary video stream 104 into nine subsets.However, it will be appreciated that any number of subsets or portionsmay be created or defined. For example, in some embodiments the activedisplay area maybe divided into four thereby creating four quadrantswhich correspond to four tertiary video streams each providing acommercial or advertisement.

The tertiary video streams 106 may be provided by the content source 32(see FIG. 1) which may be located at a source such as a super headend,or at a source such as the headend system 18 as shown by way of examplein FIG. 1. Likewise, the primary video stream 102 may also be sourcedfrom a content source 32, which may be provided at the headend system 18or at any other source of content or programming. In one exemplaryembodiment, the primary video stream 102 is broadcast by a contentprovider such as NBC, ESPN, Discovery Channel, or the like and mayinclude adverts or commercials within the primary video stream. Theprimary video stream 102 may then be received at the headend system 18where the advertisements or commercials in the primary video stream 102are removed so that more appropriate or targeted advertising orcommercials may be included in a transmission to the set-top box 38. Insuch circumstances, the secondary video stream 104 may then replace, orbe inserted in place of, the advertisements in the primary video stream102. Accordingly, the secondary video stream 104 may includeadvertisements that are particular or suitable for a particular audiencein a geographical area serviced by the headend system 18. Further, itwill be appreciated to a person of skill in the art that thetransmission may be digital or analog transmissions and may usesatellite, cable or any other communication network(s). However, unlikethe prior art, the secondary video stream 104 includes theadvertisements or commercials in a mosaic as shown by way of example inFIG. 5.

In one exemplary embodiment, the headend system 18 includes a switch112, which selectively switches between the primary video stream 102 andthe secondary video stream 104. Accordingly, the primary video stream102 may be broadcast or relayed to the set-top box 38 and, when anadvertisement or commercial included in the primary video stream 102 isto be replaced with the plurality of advertisements provided in thesecondary video stream 104, the switch 112 may then select the secondaryvideo stream 104 which is then fed into a variable bit-rate encoder 52b. An encoded output from the variable bit-rate encoder 52 b is fed intoa multiplexer 50 to allow the inclusion or multiplexing of further dataor signals. For example, the multiplexer 50 may include other data viaan input 114, or include controls signals, such as criteria and selectcommands from a control module 116. The control module 116 providescontrols and selects commands, which are included in the communicationto the set-top box 38 that may identify the start of the secondary videostream 104. Further, in certain embodiments, the control module 116provides parameters to the set-top box 38 which influences or assist inidentifying a particular tertiary video stream (e.g. a particularadvertisement or commercial) which is to be extracted from thecommunication received by the set-top box 38 and displayed on thedisplay device 42 as described in more detail below. A combined outputsignal from the multiplexer 50 is then fed into a communication module,e.g. a modulator box 78 for transmission via a broadcast network ordistribution system 14 to the set-top box 38.

In addition or instead, the control module 116 may communicate criteriaand select commands via the network 30 to one or more remote units suchas the set-top box 38. In one exemplary embodiment, the criteria andselect commands are provided in control packets which are interpreted bythe set-top box 38 and, in response thereto, a particular targetedadvertisement is extracted from the secondary video stream 104 anddisplayed on the display device 42.

In one exemplary embodiment, the set-top box 38 includes middleware 46comprising a secondary stream processing module 118 that processes thesecondary video stream 104 to selectively extract one of the tertiaryvideo streams 106 that, for example, includes an appropriateadvertisement or commercial for display at a remote location serviced bythe set-top box 38. The set-top box 38 also includes a referenceparameter module 120, which provides reference parameters such as a userprofile, a demographic profile, or any other parameters that mayinfluence the selection of an appropriate tertiary video stream 106. Thereference parameter module 120 may operate in conjunction with thesecondary stream processing module 118 to identify a preferred orappropriate tertiary video stream 106, and thus an appropriateadvertisement or commercial, for display on the display device 42. Inone exemplary embodiment, the secondary stream processing module 118includes an extraction module, e.g. a crop module 122 and a scale module124. The crop module 122 may, in response to the criteria and selectcommands from the control module 116 and in response to referenceparameters provided in the reference parameter module 120, select atertiary video stream 106 of the plurality of tertiary video streamsprovided in the secondary video stream 104 and extract the selected oridentified tertiary video stream 106 which may then be fed to the scalemodule 124. It will be appreciated that the crop module 122 crops aportion or subset of the active display area or frame provided by thesecondary content stream 104 and displays it on the display device 42.For example, if in response to the criteria and select commands and thereference parameters, the secondary stream processing module 118identifies subset “8” (see coordinates X₁Y₁, X₂Y₂, X₃Y₃, and X₄Y₄ inFIG. 5), the targeted advertisement or commercial provided therein isdisplayed to an audience or viewers serviced by the set-top box 38. If,however, the extracted subset is not scaled, display of the croppedsecondary video stream 104 would form only a segment of the activedisplay area of the display device 42 as shown in broken lines in FIG.6.

However, the scale module 124 may then scale the subset “8” so that itis displayed on the entire active display area 126 (see FIG. 6) of thedisplay device 42. It will however be appreciated that more than onetertiary video stream 106 (e.g. targeted advertisement or commercial)may be extracted or cropped by the crop module 122 and be displayedsimultaneously on the display device 42 in response to the criteria andselect commands provided by the control module 116 and the referenceparameter module 120. The extraction and display of a particulartargeted tertiary video stream 106 may take place in a completelyautomated fashion without any human intervention. Accordingly, themiddleware 46 may not require any input or action by a viewer and, incertain embodiments, the middleware 46 may be configured so that theuser or viewer has no ability to influence the extraction of thetertiary video stream (targeted advertising and commercials).

FIG. 7 shows an exemplary broadcast transmission including a pluralityof digital channels (Channel 1 to Channel M) of the interactivetelevision environment 10. A single channel of the broadcasttransmission may be used to communicate the primary video stream 102 andthe secondary video stream 104. Accordingly, in this embodiment, asingle channel communicates primary context such as a TV program as wellas a secondary video stream 104 including a mosaic of targetedadvertisements wherein a particular advertisement is extracted anddisplayed to a user at the set-top box 38 based on reference parameterssuch as user profiles, demographic profiles or the like and, optionally,control criteria and select commands. FIG. 8 shows an exemplaryembodiment of a broadcast transmission including a primary video stream102 which, upon the occurrence of a trigger event (a begin event),includes a secondary video stream 104 inserted into the broadcasttransmission and, upon the occurrence of a further trigger event (an endevent) the primary video stream 102 or regular feed may continue to bebroadcast to the set-top box 38. In one exemplary embodiment, anadvertisement server may provide the plurality of tertiary video streams106 in high resolution which are then combined or mosaiced into thesecondary video stream 104 for a selection by targeting logic providedin the middleware 46. The secondary video stream 104 that is fed to theexemplary encoder 52 b (see FIG. 4) may be unencoded digital video suchas CCIR 601 or any other serial digital data. It will be appreciatedthat mosaicing or combining of the plurality of tertiary video streams106 to form the secondary video stream 104 may be done in real timeon-the-fly or, in other embodiments, the secondary video stream 104including the mosaiced tertiary video streams 106 may be generated andstored for subsequent use in the system 100.

Referring to FIG. 9 of the drawings, reference numeral 130 generallyindicates an exemplary method, in accordance with the invention, forextracting a tertiary content stream (e.g., a tertiary video stream)from a secondary content stream (e.g., secondary video stream)comprising a plurality of tertiary content streams (e.g., tertiary videostreams). In the method 130, the tertiary video streams are targetedadvertisements or commercials which may be of particular relevance to ageographic area serviced by the headend system 18. As shown at operation132, the set-top box 38 may receive a transmission via a distributionsystem or network 14 and display the transmission on the display device42. However, in one exemplary embodiment, upon receipt of a triggerevent such as a control packet from the transmission equipment such asthe headend system 18, the set-top box (e.g. middleware 46 of theset-top box 38) may identify when the transmission includes a secondaryvideo stream 104 including the mosaic or combination of tertiary videostreams 106. If no trigger event is received (see decision operation134), the method continues to receive the transmission and display thetransmission on the display device 42. If, however, an advertisementtrigger (e.g. a trigger indicating a second video stream 104 is includedin the transmission) is received, the method 130 proceeds to operation136 where it receives criteria or criterion and evaluates the criterionagainst a profile provided in the set-top box 38. For example, thecriteria or criterion may be provided by the control module 116 (seeFIG. 4) which is communicated by the network 30 or included in thetransmission using the multiplexer 50. The middleware 46 of the set-topbox 37 may then, based on a user profile or any other referenceparameters, identify a particular advertisement or commercial forcommunication to the display device 42. In one embodiment, conventionaltechniques may be used to identify a particular targeted advertisementand, for example, a score may be generated in response to the referenceparameters provided in the reference parameter module 120 and thecriterion select commands provided in the control module 116. In otherembodiments, the secondary video stream may be identified based on aplaylist received from the headend system 18, any real-time event, orany other secondary video stream identification arrangement.

In accordance with the present invention, as shown at operation 138, asubset or portion of the active screen or display area provided by thesecondary video stream 104 (see FIG. 5) is identified as containing orproviding a relevant targeted advertisement for display via the set-topbox 38. The identified portion or subset is then extracted from theactive display area (see FIG. 5) using, for example, crop functionality(see operation 140) which may be provided by the middleware 46 of theset-top box 38. As the cropped portion of the active display area isonly a portion of the total motion picture or frame provided by thesecondary video stream 104, the extracted portion may be scaled (seeoperation 142) so that it occupies the full active display area 126 (seeFIG. 6). It will however be appreciated that the extracted portion orsubset may be scaled to occupy any portion up to 100% of the activedisplay area. Thus, in one exemplary embodiment, the extracted portionmay use the entire active display area or any part of the active displayarea (e.g., 50%, 25% etc.) of the active display area.

As shown at operation 144, the extracted content (including a targetedadvertisement or commercial) may then be displayed on the display device42. Thereafter, as shown at operation 146, if an end signal or eventadvising or indicating termination of transmission of the mosaicedsecondary video stream 104 has been received, the method 130 may returnto the operation 132 where the regular transmission including, forexample, the primary video stream 102 is once again displayed on thedisplay device 42 without any extraction functionality being performed.However, if further mosaiced video data is provided, the method 130 mayreturn to the operation 140.

Referring to FIG. 10 of the drawings, reference numeral 150 generallyindicates a method, in accordance with the invention, for generating asecondary content stream (e.g., a secondary video stream 104) includinga plurality of tertiary content streams (e.g., video content streams106). In one exemplary embodiment, the tertiary video streams 106 are aplurality of advertisements or commercials that are processed to form amosaic of video streams provided by the secondary video stream 104. Asshown at operation 152, the commercial creatives may be associated (e.g.associating the audio and video of a particular tertiary video stream106) whereafter, as shown at operation 154, criteria or criterion thatmay affect the identification of a particular tertiary video stream 106as being appropriate for display on a particular set-top box 38, is/aredetermined. Thus, in one exemplary embodiment, although a plurality oftertiary video streams 106 may be provided to the combining module 108,only a selected number of the tertiary video streams 106 may be includedin the secondary video stream 104. Thus, in one embodiment, appropriatetargeted advertisements may be selected at the headend system 18 forcommunication to a set-top box 38. The set-top box 38 may then selectone of the targeted advertisements provided in the second video stream104 for display on the display device 42. Accordingly, the selection oridentification of targeted advertisements may be determined orinfluenced at the headend system 18 and/or the set-top box 38.

Returning to the method 150, the combining module 108 (see FIG. 3) maygenerate a video mosaic signal including a plurality of tertiary videostreams 106 (see FIG. 5) included in a single secondary content stream104 (see operation 156). The timing or play-out of the secondary videostream 104 may be controlled by the control module 116 (see operation158). In one exemplary embodiment, a start and an end of anadvertisement or commercial provided in the primary video stream 102 maybe identified based on a schedule or a received tone. Accordingly, theschedule or received tone may define when a secondary video stream 104replaces advertising content provided in the primary video stream 102.As shown at operation 160, the play-out data may be communicated by aplay-out selection command (e.g. using the control module 116) to theset-top box 38. The play-out selection command may be communicated viathe network 30 or included within the transmission via the multiplexer50. Once a play-out selection command has been communicated to theset-top box 38, the secondary video stream 104 may be switched into thetransmission (see operation 162). Upon completion of transmission of thesecondary video stream 104 (e.g. upon termination of a time periodallocated for advertisements or commercials) the transmission may returnto a normal non-mosaic signal where the headend system 18 once againcommunicates the primary video stream, e.g. a television program to theset-top box 38.

FIG. 11 shows an exemplary computer system that may be used to implementany one or more of the systems 87, 64, 100, or storage unit 72, Theexemplary computer system 200 includes a processor 202 (e.g., a centralprocessing unit (CPU) a graphics processing unit (GPU) or both), a mainmemory 204 and a static memory 206, which communicate with each othervia a bus 208. The computer system 200 may further include a videodisplay unit 210 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a cathode raytube (CRT)). The computer system 200 also includes an alphanumeric inputdevice 212 (e.g., a keyboard), a user interface (UI) navigation device214 (e.g., a mouse), a disk drive unit 216, a signal generation device218 (e.g., a speaker) and a network interface device 220.

The disk drive unit 216 includes a machine-readable medium 222 on whichis stored one or more sets of instructions (e.g., software 224)embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions describedherein. The software 224 may also reside, completely or at leastpartially, within the main memory 204 and/or within the processor 202during execution thereof by the computer system 200, the main memory 204and the processor 202 also constituting machine-readable media.

The software 224 may further be transmitted or received over a network226 via the network interface device 220.

It will be appreciated to one skilled in the art that one or more of themodules, applications, or the like of the modulator box 70, the set-topbox 38 and the storage unit 72 may be combined or integrated.

While the machine-readable medium 292 is shown in an exemplaryembodiment to be a single medium, the term “machine-readable medium”should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., acentralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches andservers) that store the one or more sets of instructions. The term“machine-readable medium” shall also be taken to include any medium thatis capable of storing, encoding or carrying a set of instructions forexecution by the machine and that cause the machine to perform any oneor more of the methodologies of the present invention. The term“machine-readable medium” shall accordingly be taken to include, but notbe limited to, solid-state memories, optical and magnetic media, andcarrier wave signals. It will also be appreciate that modules may beimplemented in software or hardware.

Thus, a method and system to communicate content to at least one remoteunit (e.g., a set-top box) in an exemplary interactive televisionenvironment are described. Although the present invention has beendescribed with reference to specific exemplary embodiments, it will beevident that various modifications and changes may be made to theseembodiments without departing from the broader spirit and scope of theinvention. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to beregarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. Further, itwill be appreciates that the components/modules described and/orillustrated in the application may represent logical units and do notnecessary correspond to one or more physical devices that may bedeployed.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: providing a datastream that includes a primary video stream with a primary advertisementto a receiver device; accessing multiple tertiary video content thateach contain a different secondary advertisement; using a processor,generating a secondary video stream that has a picture area in whichdifferent regions of the picture area contain different secondaryadvertisements, each of the different secondary advertisements beingcontained in different tertiary video content among the accessedmultiple tertiary video content; providing a signal to the receiverdevice, the receiver device being configured to select a region amongthe different regions of the picture area of the secondary video streambased on coordinates that define a subset of the picture area, crop theselected region, and display only the selected region on a displayscreen in response to the provided signal; and substituting the secondvideo stream for the primary video stream in the data stream beingprovided to the receiver device, the secondary video stream and theprovided signal together causing the receiver device to select theregion of the picture area of the secondary video stream based on thecoordinates, crop the selected region, and display only the selectedregion scaled to fill the display screen.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein: the primary video stream is a primary content stream that alsoincludes primary interactive data; and the different tertiary videocontent each also includes corresponding tertiary interactive data. 3.The method of claim 1, wherein: the data stream being provided to thereceiver device includes interactive application data.
 4. The method ofclaim 1 further comprising: in response to expiration of a time periodfor the primary advertisement, substituting the primary video stream forthe second video stream in the data stream being provided to thereceiver device.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein: the generating ofthe secondary video stream includes generating a video mosaic in whichthe different regions of the picture area of the secondary video streamcontain different secondary advertisements contained in the differenttertiary video content.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein: thesubstituting of the secondary video stream for the primary video streamis based on a start of the primary advertisement in the primary videostream, the start of the primary advertisement being identified based ona schedule.
 7. The method of claim 6 further comprising: identifying anend of the primary advertisement in the primary video stream based onthe schedule; and based on the end of the primary advertisement,substituting the primary video stream for the second video stream in thedata stream being provided to the receiver device.
 8. The method ofclaim 1, wherein: the substituting of the secondary video stream for theprimary video stream is based on a start of the primary advertisement inthe primary video stream, the start of the primary advertisement beingidentified based on a tone.
 9. The method of claim 8 further comprising:identifying an end of the primary advertisement in the primary videostream based on the tone; and based on the end of the primaryadvertisement, substituting the primary video stream for the secondvideo stream in the data stream being provided to the receiver device.10. The method of claim 1, wherein: the providing of the signal includesproviding a play-out selection command within the data stream beingprovided to the receiver device.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein: theproviding of the signal includes providing a play-out selection commandvia a first network that is different from a second network via whichthe data stream is being provided to the receiver device.
 12. The methodof claim 1, wherein: the providing of the signal includes communicatingan indication that the second video stream is included in the datastream being provided to the receiver device.
 13. The method of claim 1,wherein: the providing of the signal includes communicating a criterionon a basis of which the receiver device is configured to select theregion of the picture area of the secondary video stream.
 14. A systemcomprising: a multiplexer module configured to provide a data streamthat includes a primary video stream with a primary advertisement to areceiver device; a combining module configured to: access multipletertiary video content that each contain a different secondaryadvertisement; and using a processor, generate a secondary video streamthat has a picture area in which different regions of the picture areacontain different secondary advertisements, each of the differentsecondary advertisements being contained in different tertiary videocontent among the accessed multiple tertiary video content; a controlmodule configured to provide a signal to the receiver device, thereceiver device being configured to select a region among the differentregions of the picture area of the secondary video stream based oncoordinates that define a subset of the picture area, crop the selectedregion, and display only the selected region on a display screen inresponse to the provided signal; and a switch configured to substitutethe second video stream for the primary video stream in the data streambeing provided to the receiver device, the secondary video stream andthe provided signal together causing the receiver device to select theregion of the picture area of the secondary video stream based on thecoordinates, crop the selected region, and display only the selectedregion scaled to fill the display screen.
 15. The system of claim 14,wherein: the primary video stream is a primary content stream that alsoincludes primary interactive data; and the different tertiary videocontent each also includes corresponding tertiary interactive data. 16.The system of claim 14, wherein: the data stream being provided to thereceiver device includes interactive application data.
 17. The system ofclaim 14, wherein: the combining module is configured to generate thesecondary video stream by generating a video mosaic in which thedifferent regions of the picture area of the secondary video streamcontain different secondary advertisements contained in the differenttertiary video content.
 18. A non-transitory machine-readable storagemedium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or moreprocessors of a machine, cause the machine to perform operationscomprising: providing a data stream that includes a primary video streamwith a primary advertisement to a receiver device; accessing multipletertiary video content that each contain a different secondaryadvertisement; generating a secondary video stream that has a picturearea in which different regions of the picture area contain differentsecondary advertisements, each of the different secondary advertisementsbeing contained in different tertiary video content among the accessedmultiple tertiary video content; providing a signal to the receiverdevice, the receiver device being configured to select a region amongthe different regions of the picture area of the secondary video streambased on coordinates that define a subset of the picture area, crop theselected region, and display only the selected region on a displayscreen in response to the provided signal; and substituting the secondvideo stream for the primary video stream in the data stream beingprovided to the receiver device, the secondary video stream and theprovided signal together causing the receiver device to select theregion of the picture area of the secondary video stream based on thecoordinates, crop the selected region, and display only the selectedregion scaled to fill the display screen.
 19. The non-transitorymachine-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the operationsfurther comprise: in response to expiration of a time period for theprimary advertisement, substituting the primary video stream for thesecond video stream in the data stream being provided to the receiverdevice.
 20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim18, wherein: the generating of the secondary video stream includesgenerating a video mosaic in which the different regions of the picturearea of the secondary video stream contain different secondaryadvertisements contained in the different tertiary video content.